Should I Wear An Amulet Or Talisman Or Perform A Spell? ~ Filipino Conjure & Rootwork

Should I Wear An Amulet Or Talisman Or Perform A Spell?

Mummified raccoon paw, Ojo de malo, and mercury dime.

Hoodoo' amulets and talismans' is the broad category of jujus, totems, or charms that conjure workers make, sell or use to invoke the aid of spirits. It may or may not require reciting or chanting prayers, using other efficacious spiritual supplies, and performing choreographed physical actions and gestures to activate them. Although amulets or talismans include far more than just magical accessories worn, the accessories themselves provide a valuable way of understanding what Conjure and Rootwork are all about and how to utilize them.

Craft-worker's space. (Photo courtesy of Marlon Molarte)

Amulets are usually made by craft-worker or jewelry makers and then prepared, fixed, and empowered for clients by the conjurer to work. Intense will, faith, and emotional power help link the object and the magical purpose. They constantly balance the interplay between using natural curios and traditional forms and creating a personally meaningful, sincere interaction with the spirits that reflect the intention of the one who prays.

When obtained, some amulets also come with specific blessings and prayers to be recited daily, weekly or monthly for various purposes. There are amulets, too, that are very dynamic and can change their meaning according to the client's needs or aesthetics.

Ammonite fossil talismanic necklace. (Photo courtesy of Marlon Molarte)

Beaded talisman for protection with miniature skulls.

Although some Hoodoo practitioners want their clients to engage their spirits regularly through amulets and talismans, most of the most sincere and intense intentions have likely been expressed in spell works or conjure works. Traditionally, some personal spells (including their materials, ritual procedures, prayers, etc.) have been recorded for and used by other individuals.

Spells cast by a conjure worker on behalf of his clients to amulets ritually prepared and fixed by rootworker can be remarkably moving, both in how they reflect the particular concerns of the individual and in how they capture and express universal needs and desires. Choices between wearing an amulet and performing a spell are as much culture-based and efficacy-based. Select what works for you or for the client.

A Catholic rosary with freshwater pearls and Arabic Nazar (evil eye) made with multicolored Tiger's eye.

Fourth Solomonic Pentacle of Jupiter activation.

See, What Our Path Is

Being immensely interested in African diaspora religions and Folk Catholicism, we primarily honor our ancestors, Church saints, angels, folk saints, and Afro-Caribbean spirits such as loas and orishas. If we absolutely have to put a label on ourselves, we prefer the label of “Folk Judeo-Christian” as we live according to the customs and traditions of conjure workers and root doctors from the Deep South and syncretic followers of Christ in various nations of the Caribbean and Latin America.

Our spirituality includes West African-based Caribbean-style tradition as well as Esoteric Christianity and Yoruba religion. Generally, we practice Gullah folk magic popularly known in the Deep South as Hoodoo or Lowcountry Voodoo; the ancient wisdom founded by Orunmila in Ile-Ife called Ifa, and a bit of Lihim na Karunungan (Filipino Esotericism or Philippine Mystery Tradition).

Respect, What Hoodoo Is

Despite visible evidence of Central West African, Islamic/Moorish, Native American, Judeo-Christian, European, and even a few East Indian/Hindu, Chinese, and Latino/Caribbean retentions, influences, and admixtures, this does not mean that Hoodoo is an open and unrestricted system of eclectic magic.

Conjure, and Rootwork is rooted in African-American culture and Folk Protestant Christianity. Any practitioners of Hoodoo who did not grow up within African-American culture should still have a fuller understanding and high regard for its origin.

In the beginning, the early conjure doctors were entirely Black. The students were all Black, the elders were Black, the teaching was Black, and they focused only on Blacks as their audience. But other races were accepted when they had also been brought into the Hoodoo community and learned the tradition. Even so, we should still acknowledge that Hoodoo, Conjure, or Rootwork is not ours but only belongs to the Black community. We are just believers who are grafted into their rich yet humble tradition and, by word and deed, embrace genuine African-American folk spirituality and magic. This is all we can do for all the blessings we received from God and our Black ancestors.

Hoodoo's lack of religious structure and hierarchical authority do not mean that any person or group can appropriate or redefine it. If one cannot respect Hoodoo as it is and for what it is, then please, do not play with it.

Learn, How Conjure Is Worked On

Authentic Conjure is not all about blending and selling oils and casting spells online to make money. Hoodoo has its own spiritual philosophy, theology, and a wide range of African-American folkways, customs, and practices which include, but are not limited to, veneration of the ancestors, Holy Ghost shouting, snake reverence, spirit possession, graveyard conjure, nkisi practices, Black hermeneutics, African-American church traditions, the ring shout, the Kongo cosmogram, ritual water immersions, crossroads magic, making conjure canes, animal sacrifices, Jewish scriptural magic, enemy works, Seekin' ritual, magical incorporation of bodily fluids, etc.

Unfortunately, they are currently missing in marketeered or commercial Hoodoo, as they are being removed, disregarded, or ignored by unknowing merchants who simply want to profit from an African-American spiritual tradition, thus reducing Hoodoo to just a plethora of recipes, spells, and tricks.

Tim and I are completely aware that we are not African-Americans, so we are doing our best to retain and preserve the customs and traditions of the slave ancestors to avoid unnecessary conflict with the larger Black-Belt Hoodoo community and prevent them from labeling us inauthentic outsiders and our practice as mere 'cultural misappropriation.'

Accept, Who We Are

The byproduct of eons of slave history, Black supremacists believe that only people with African or African-American blood are real Hoodoo practitioners and are often inclined to consider themselves as the elite of the Hoodoo community; a place in which they believed that Whites, Latinos, Asians or any other races who do not have Black ancestry do not belong. Black supremacists are prone to be very hostile towards both “outsiders” and those accepting of them, fearing that their promotion and acceptance would dilute or even negate the Black identity of Hoodoo.

Although we do understand why some Blacks hold this stance, since a lot of people nowadays are misappropriating many aspects of Hoodoo and teaching the spiritual path even without proper education and training (for purely monetary purposes), we would, however, want to say that not all non-Black Hoodoo practitioners are the same.

WE respect what Hoodoo is, and we never try to change it, claim it as our own, disregard its history, take unfair advantage of it, speak against the people who preserve it, and mix it with other cultures (like our own) and call it Filipino/Pinoy Hoodoo, Gypsy Hoodoo or Wiccan Hoodoo because there are no such things.